1 Nephi 9 - the Small Plates of Nephi

And now, as I have spoken concerning these plates, behold they are not the plates upon which I make a full account of the history of my people; for the plates upon which I make a full account of my people I have given the name of Nephi; wherefore, they are called the plates of Nephi, after mine own name; and these plates also are called the plates of Nephi.

In chapter 6, Nephi distinguished between "these plates" upon which he is writing and "the record which has been kept by my father" (6:1). Here in chapter 9, Nephi for the first time distinguishes between two sets of plates he is keeping, both of which are confusingly termed "the plates of Nephi."

One set of plates he consistently refers to as "these plates" [generally referred to modernly as the Small Plates of Nephi]. The Small Plates are for "the more part of the ministry" (9:4). He fashioned the Small Plates because "the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not" (9:5). The other set of plates [generally referred to modernly as the Large Plates of Nephi] contained "an account of the reign of the kings, and the wars and contentions of my people" (9:4). Nephi gives additional detail concerning the Small and Large Plates at 1 Nephi 19.